Pats take advantage of muffed pass

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Mark Clayton got open and waited for the fourth-down pass that could keep the Ravens' chances alive.

Joe Flacco reached his target inside the Patriots' 10-yard line and beyond the first-down marker, but Clayton didn't hold on with 28 seconds left. New England did — eking out a 27-21 win over Baltimore yesterday.

“Flat out drop,” Clayton said. “It was a perfect ball. Joe put it on the money. To not come up with it is tough. It cost us the game.”

The Ravens lost left tackle Jared Gaither after a collision that put him on his back for about 10 minutes before he was taken off the field on a stretcher midway through the second quarter. X-rays at Massachusetts General Hospital, where he had tests on his neck and shoulder, were negative.

Flacco fell onto Gaither's back as the quarterback was shoved by defensive end Ty Warren.

The Ravens failed on another fourth-down play on their next-to-last series as they tried to overcome the first scoring pass of the season from Tom Brady to Randy Moss and a 1-yard touchdown sneak by the quarterback.

On that fourth-and-1 at the Ravens' 45-yard line, Warren stopped Willis McGahee for no gain with 5:09 remaining.

“That was quite a finish,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said. “Stop them on fourth down twice in the fourth quarter — that's when you've got to be there. Luckily, we were.”

But Ravens players thought McGahee had made the first down.

“The spots were terrible,” Baltimore safety Ed Reed said.

Moss' touchdown made it 24-14 late in the third quarter, but Flacco's 13-yard scoring pass to McGahee cut that to 24-21. Stephen Gostkowski's 33-yard field goal gave the Patriots (3-1) a six-point lead midway through the fourth quarter.

After McGahee came up short, the Patriots punted and the Ravens (3-1) got the ball back with 5:09 left, then moved to a fourth-and-4 at the 14.

“We thought we had them down, but they started coming back,” Patriots running back Sammy Morris said. “It was just one of those tough slugfests.”

The game was decided when Clayton dropped the ball and the Patriots ran out the clock as they kept their unbeaten record against the Ravens with their fifth win.

“We were confident,” Baltimore wide receiver Derrick Mason said. “The defense did a great job of holding them and giving us the opportunity to put some points on the board.”

Trailing 17-7 at halftime, the Ravens made it 17-14 when Terrell Suggs hit Brady for a sack and knocked the ball out of his right hand. Dwan Edwards recovered in the end zone for a touchdown with 6:19 left in the third quarter.